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Rangers Hire Dave Magadan as Hitting Coach

Arlington, Texas – The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has hired Dave Magadan as the major league hitting coach.

Scott Coolbaugh, who has served as the team’s hitting coach since June 2011, will be offered another position in the organization.

Magadan, 50, has spent the last six seasons as hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox from 2007-12. In that six-year span, the Red Sox ranked among the majors’ top 3 in doubles (1st, 2089), extra-base hits (1st, 3385), runs (2nd, 5011), hits (2nd, 9196), total bases (2nd, 15002), OPS (2nd, .791), slugging (2nd, .445), on-base pct. (2nd, .346), average (3rd, .273), and walks (3rd, 3587). Boston also led the majors by averaging 3.94 pitches per plate appearance over the past six years. Magadan led an offense that had the majors’ highest OPS figures in both 2010 and 2011, ranking 2nd in that category in both 2008 and 2009.

In Magadan’s first year with the Red Sox in 2007, the club won the World Series while ranking among major league leaders with 352 doubles (T1st) and a .362 on-base percentage (2nd). The Boston offense had 689 walks in 2007, which remains the highest single-season total by any American League club since 2000 and marked the most free passes by the Red Sox since 1956 (727).

Magadan began his coaching career in the San Diego organization in 2002 and was the club’s major league hitting coach for parts of four seasons from 2003 through June 15, 2006. As a player, he compiled a career .288 average and .390 on-base percentage over 16 major league seasons with New York-NL (1986-92), Florida (1993, 1994), Seattle (1993), Houston (1995), Chicago-NL (1996), Oakland (1997-98), and San Diego (1999-2001). He attended the University of Alabama for three years and won USA Baseball’s Golden Spikes Award in 1983 after leading NCAA Division I batters with a .525 average.

Coolbaugh spent one full season on the major league coaching staff after being named to the post on June 8, 2011. He has been in the Texas organization for the last six years.